The Effect of Storage Time on the Mycoflora of Maize Grains at Ambient Conditions

Abstract

Maize grains stored under ambient laboratory conditions were sampled monthly over a five months period. Isolations of fungi yielded six different genera. Four genera, namely, Aspergillus, Drechslera, Penicillium and Rhizopus are a new addition to the list of seed-borne fungi on maize in Libya. In comparison to the blotter method, a high significant increase of infected grains percentage was found using agar medium “G-18”. A. /favus-infected grains increased significantly after three months of storage and up to the fifth month; whilst those infected by A. niger remained fairly unchanged. There was a high significant difference in infection by A.flavus between maize grains brought from Ajelat and those from Tajoura. The effect of grain origin, surface treatment and storage time on the degree of infection was also investigated.